1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to means for selectively diverting preselected clips out of a sheet material flow stream.
2. The Prior Art
In a sheet material flow stream, sequential clips of paper or other sheet material are inspected for defects or damage whereupon such defective clips may be selectively diverted out of the stream at a reject gate station. The defective clips may be directed to a reject chute for disposal or recycling; whereas the satisfactory clips continue on in the stream for further processing and packaging. Various mechanical gate devices have been devised for deflecting clips into a reject chute.
The mechanical gates, however, are prone to jam-up. In some cases, when sheeting webs are run at high speed, the mechanical gates are unable to react fast enough to remove a single defective clip. Another desirable feature often lacking in mechanical reject gates is the ability to ready the gate in either open or closed positions during passage of a clip preceding the clip to be diverted without damaging or marking the passing sheet material.
The present invention overcomes these and other drawbacks inherent to mechanical gates by providing for an extremely quick-acting gate system having no moving parts subject to wear or which can mark or damage sheet material.